If Only Charles Darwin Could See His Descendant Now

[rug]

Catholic apologist Laura Keynes, the great-great-great-granddaughter of the Father of Evolution, says the faith of her baptism was reanimated through intellectual pursuit.



Laura Keynes

by JAMES KELLY
08/14/2013

LONDON — According to the commonly held view about her great-great-great-grandfather, Charles Darwin, Laura Keynes has apparently broken all the rules in developing a passionate Catholic faith.

Apart from her family lineage, which includes her great-great-uncle, economist John Maynard Keynes, Laura also holds a doctorate from Oxford University in philosophy.

But in mid-June, the Catholic Herald reported the startling news that this highly educated Darwinian descendant had evolved into a Catholic apologist, joining Britain’s Catholic Voices.

When asked how she found her way to the Catholic Church, Keynes reveals that she was actually baptized Catholic after her mother converted shortly after her birth. However, by the time she was 12, her mother had lapsed, and her faith formation ended.

http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/if-only-charles-darwin-could-see-his-descendant-now/

Personally, I don't think Darwin or evolution has anything to do with religion. But for those who do (such as Richard Dawkins who's on record as considering his encounter with evolution as pivotal in his becoming a convinced atheist), the irony is inescapable.

[tjwmason]

1. The whole religion -vs- Darwin thing

Has always struck me as being a protestant problem - it's the Evangelical fundies and the literal interpretation of the Bible where it presents a problem. Whilst some Catholics have found it problematic, the Church has never pronounced against Darwin even in the early stages; indeed an Augustinian (Gregor Mendel) contributed significant to the foundation of genetics.

[rug]

2. That's true. Humani Generis pretty much rejected evolution as contradictory to creation.

...the Teaching Authority of the Church does not forbid that, in conformity with the present state of human sciences and sacred theology, research and discussions, on the part of men experienced in both fields, take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution, in as far as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter—for the Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God...

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_12081950_humani-generis_en.html

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

3. I suggest that you are out of date on your statement of the Catholic belief on evolution

In 1996, John Paul II made an address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in which he said

Today, more than a half-century after the appearance of the encyclical [ie, Humani Generis], some new findings lead us toward the recognition of evolution as more than an hypothesis. New findings lead us toward the recognition of evolution as more than a hypothesis. In fact it is remarkable that this theory has had progressively greater influence on the spirit of researchers, following a series of discoveries in different scholarly disciplines. The convergence in the results of these independent studies—which was neither planned nor sought—constitutes in itself a significant argument in favor of the theory.

A theory is a meta-scientific elaboration, which is distinct from, but in harmony with, the results of observation. With the help of such a theory a group of data and independent facts can be related to one another and interpreted in one comprehensive explanation. The theory proves its validity by the measure to which it can be verified. It is constantly being tested against the facts; when it can no longer explain these facts, it shows its limits and its lack of usefulness, and it must be revised.

There are some who claim that he was talking about there being "more than one hypothesis", but this is disproven by the original French:

« Aujourdhui, près dun demi-siècle après la parution de l'encyclique, de nouvelles connaissances conduisent à reconnaitre dans la théorie de l'évolution plus qu'une hypothèse. »

See http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/jp961022.htm for the whole text.

[rug]

4. That simply expanded the view.

Pius said evolution did not contradict creation. John Paul said evolution is much more than a theory.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

5. "Theory" to a scientist means

"An explanation that fits the known facts". JPII said essentially, "the theory of evolution in no way contradicts Catholic belief".

I think I may have misunderstood what you meant to say. If so, I apologize.

[rug]

6. So did Pius.

What point are you making?

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

7. I read you as saying that Pius did not really accept evolution

On a re-read, you did not say that. I misunderstood, and I apologize.

[rug]

8. No problem.